State Railway of Thailand
in Pathum Wan District]] The State Railway of Thailand (การรถไฟแห่งประเทศไทย) is the state-owned rail operator in Thailand. The network sees around 50 million passengers per annum. History SRT was founded as the Royal State Railways of Siam (RSR) in 1890. Construction of the Bangkok-Ayutthaya railway (71 km), the first part of the Northern Line, was started in 1891 and completed on May 23, 1892. The Thonburi-Phetchaburi line (150 km), later the Southern Line, was opened on June 19, 1903. The Northern Line was originally built as standard gauge, but in September 1919 it was decided to standardize on meter gauge and the Northern Line was regauged during the next ten years. On July 1, 1951, RSR changed its name to the present State Railway of Thailand. In 2005 SRT had 4,070 km of track, all of it meter gauge. Nearly all is single-track, although some important sections around Bangkok are double or triple-tracked and there are plans to extend this. Issues The SRT has long been popularly perceived by the public as inefficient and resistant to change. Trains are usually late, and most of its equipment is old and poorly maintained. The worst financially performing state enterprise, the SRT consistently operates at a loss despite being endowed with large amounts of property and receiving large government budgets; it reported a preliminary loss of 7.58 billion baht in 2010. Recurring government attempts at restructuring and/or privatization throughout the 2000s have always been strongly opposed by the union and have not made any progress. Services Intercity services , terminal station of the four main lines]] SRT operates intercity passenger services on the following lines: * Northern Line * Northeastern Line * Southern Line * Eastern Line * Maeklong Railway International services linking SRT and KTM trains.]] SRT operates international services to Butterworth in Penang, Malaysia, in conjunction with Malaysian state operator KTM. A link across the Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge to Thanaleng Station, near Vientiane, opened in March 2009. There are plans to re-open rail links to Cambodia via Poipet from the railhead at Aranyaprathet. Railway connections to Myanmar (Burma), notably the infamous Death Railway, are defunct. In December 2010, following Chinese plans to extend their (standard gauge) network to Xishuangbanna on the China-Laos border and further into Laos, the Thai government agreed to start negotiations on building a standard-gauge network. This would initially involve two lines: from Bangkok to the Lao border, and a longer line from Bangkok along the peninsula to the Malay border. SRT also allows operation of the Eastern and Oriental Express on their tracks which runs from Singapore to Bangkok and vice versa, with a few trips to Laos and Chiang Mai. Rail links to adjacent countries * Malaysia - same gauge * Laos - same gauge across Mekong River on Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge * Cambodia - disused (being rebuilt) * Myanmar - defunct - (see Death Railway).But projected extension will rebuild the route. ** Proposed link from Kanchanaburi to Port Dawei (2011) Commuter trains at Rama VI Bridge]] Main article: Commuter rail in Thailand The SRT operates commuter rail services from Bangkok along the Northern and Northeastern Lines up to Ayutthaya, Ban Phachi Junction, Lopburi and Kaeng Khoi Junction. Ten trains run along the route on a daily basis. The Red Line project is a new commuter rail system also owned by the SRT. It is currently under construction and will replace portions of rail lines running through Bangkok, eliminating at-grade crossings. Other services ]] SRT operates the Airport Link to Suvarnabhumi Airport which opened in 2010. It is medium speed (160 km/h) and links with BTS Skytrain at Phaya Thai Station and MRT at Phetchaburi Station,and a new transit center at Makkasan allows airline passengers to check-in. References Category:Thai Railway Category:State Railway of Thailand Category:Rail transport operators